Play Ball! Congratulations to the LSU Tigers, winners of the 2009 College World Series. The Bayou Bengals demolished Texas in Game 3 of the championship series to take the crown.
It's the sixth baseball title for LSU, all of them coming since 1991.
Dreamin'. Tons of news from the pros or would-be pros from the SEC. First priority: The NBA Draft, set for today. Jodie Meeks is the only SEC player expected to go -- well, maybe at all. Clay:
There's a good chance that not a single SEC player will be selected in the first round. That's no surprise to those of us who winced along with league play last season. ...
Q: So where will Jodie Meeks be drafted?
A: Says here the second half of the second round. Get ready for a long night.
Then there's this whole, odd thing with Nick Calathes, who is absolutely bound for the Greek team with the absurdly long name. Even though he's still watching the draft. But he's going, honestly. Says his dad.
In the NFL, the Arizona Cardinals could find they got more than their draft-pick's worth in Rashad Johnson, says Revenge of the Birds. (HT: Roll Bama Roll)John Calathes said there is no truth to the rumors and no possibility Nick Calathes would try to wiggle out of his contact.
"It’s not an option," John Calathes said. "He’s definitely going to Greece for this year. He’ll be there at least one year."
Playing well on special teams is a given but if Johnson wrestles the third safety spot from Aaron Francisco by mid season, it'll be a successful season in my mind. He's got the skills to be a player in this league, it's just a matter of handling the transition from Saturdays to Sundays.
South Carolina alum Captain Munnerlyn, who was chosen in the seventh round to match the number of personal fouls he'll likely commit in his first NFL season, signs with the Carolina Panthers.
Dicky Lyons Jr. continues to try to catch on at the next level, while Matt Jones tries to make up for the chance he threw away.
Former South Carolina running back Derek Watson, who's also had some experience in throwing away chances, could find work with Canada's Calgary Stampedes.
Somebody needs to do something about this. The "intern" hiring trend is really getting out of hand, with Tennessee now snapping up the director of player personnel at the University of Central Florida and dubbing him "a recruiting intern." Really?
At least there are some restrictions.
By NCAA rules, only UT’s nine assistant coaches and head coach Lane Kiffin are allowed to visit prospects.
Other staff members can be involved in the recruiting process, such as arranging visits and contacting high school coaches, as long as they do so from campus and follow all applicable NCAA rules.
I don't know how exactly you can police who is and isn't actually an intern, but this is quickly becoming a joke.
As long as he stays on the straight and narrow -- maybe. RazorBloggers takes a shot at ranking the 12 SEC quarterbacks/QB situations. A few caught the attention of your humble correspondent, including No. 4 Stephen Garcia(!) of the South Carolina Gamecocks, credited with "Good game experience;" the Vanderbilt Commodores' Mackenzi Adams at No. 5, also because of experience; and Joe Cox of the Georgia Bulldogs in last place after his G-Day performance "quickly moved the fifth-year senior to our bottom rung."
The 60/40 ratio = The new "There be dragons." Roll Bama Roll takes a look at the run/pass ratio of SEC teams in 2008 and finds that few teams even came close to running the ball the famed 60 percent of the time.
Only three teams effectively ran the ball more than 50% of the time, and the conference as a whole once again saw more passing attempts than rushing attempts. In fact, far from the ideal 60/40 run/pass split, as a whole SEC teams threw the ball roughly 52% of the time, and ran the ball only about 48% of the time.
So much for the old-school offenses.
Wind Sprints. The Joe Cribbs Car Wash googles Tyrik Rollison, finding that he might actually step on the field this year for the Auburn Tigers ... The BCS turns down the Mountain West. Yawn ... Look at both of ShoalCreekVol's posts (HT: EDSBS) ...